In recent years, industrial personal computers have become increasingly prevalent in many industries. It is not uncommon today to see installations with rows of industrial PCs arranged in racks. Many of these PCs are independent servers dedicated to a single function, such as email, web serving, file storage, and DNS.
While these independent dedicated servers have been used extensively in the past, they do have some drawbacks. First of all, they typically consume extensive space. Secondly, they generate much heat, owing, at least in part, to the fact that each independent server typically has associated with it a power supply which generates heat.
Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and computer systems for providing independent dedicated server functions.